During the holiday season I find myself striving to create, and reflecting on, precious memories.
     I remember an old neighbor and family friend, Ann, who always collected newspaper clippings to share with her friends and relatives. The photos or articles would be about a place you had visited with her once, some topic she knew interested you, or a reference to someone we both had known; always some link that had reminded her of the uniqueness of one of her loved ones. When Ann prepared to move from the home of her adult life, she had to sort through a room full of papers, and on my next visit to her, Ann presented me with a pile of clippings that went back to my elementary school years. As I looked through thirty years of clippings, I realized she had been saving these mementos of my life. We sat together relishing long-forgotten moments and I remember being suffused with a sense of simple, joyful wellbeing.
     I remember a scene from Homer's Iliad, my favorite book. Although not the only theme of this epic, Achilles is forced to learn to deal with Agamemnon, an incompetent authority figure and somehow this theme resonated with me as I grew up. At the end of this poem, Priam, the king of Troy, comes to Achilles to ransom the body of his son and says:

"Honor then the gods, Achilles, and take pity upon me
Remembering your father, yet I am still more pitiful;
I have gone through what no other mortal on earth has gone through;
I put my lips to the hands of the man who has killed my children."
   (XXIV. 503-6)

     The two men then remember and weep together. I can not read this passage without joining in their weeping.
     Finally, I remember a scene from my favorite modern author, E.M. Forster. In Howards End, Margaret strives to save the soul of Mr. Wilcox:

It did not seem so difficult. ... She would only point out the salvation that was latent in his own soul, and in the soul of every man. Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. ... Live in fragments no longer.
   (from Chapter 22)

     Although not an easy task, Mr. Wilcox, like the others mentioned above, does learn to connect. There is a web of love that surrounds us, whether we are aware or not. This is the solace of the Christmas story: connections forged through pain, suffering, grief and finally love and joy.

Dear God,
Thank you for your loving connection to us through the gift of life and the sacrifice of your son. Help us create in those around us the awareness of a loving presence. Amen

Contributed by Susan
Sunday January 6, 2008
Liturgical Year A Week 6
Sunday Gospel reading:
Epiphany of Our Lord